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Assessing farmers’ perspectives on climate change for effective farm-level adaptation measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

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Abstract

Agriculture is considered as the backbone of the economy of Pakistan. However, current changes in climate have been adversely affecting agricultural productivity. In this paper, perceived impacts of climate change on agriculture and adaptation towards it have been studied in Charsadda district (lowlands) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan through extensive field surveys, involving 116 farm households. Results have revealed that climate change factors including fluctuating temperature, evidence of yearly long droughts, and a steady shift in rainfall patterns have pressured the agriculture sector and livelihoods of the local peasants. The staggering floods of 2010 and 2011 in Pakistan have evidenced severe climatic changes in Pakistan. These countrywide floods have washed fertile soil in the study area that has directly contributed to losses in agricultural yield and increased vector-borne diseases in crops. The local farmers have commonly deployed adaptive measure such as crops diversification, changing fertilizer, and planting shaded trees to minimize the impacts of changes in climate. However, these adjustments measures are perceived as not appropriate for improving farm yield. Therefore, the study suggests that improved understanding of the climate change impacts and knowledge on adapting adequately will lead to no-regret adaptation. It will also help protecting farmer’s lives and livelihoods and will boost their resilience towards changing climatic conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Foreign Studies, Center for Pakistan Studies, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, No. 86, Hongqi Avenue, Ganzhou, 341000, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Wahid Ullah

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Nafees

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Haripur, Haripur, 25000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Khurshid

  4. Department of Human Geography, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0808, Japan

    Takaaki Nihei

Authors
  1. Wahid Ullah
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  2. Muhammad Nafees
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  3. Muhammad Khurshid
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  4. Takaaki Nihei
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Contributions

Takaaki Nihei supervised this research work during doctoral studies of the corresponding author Wahid Ullah. Takaaki Nihei and Muhammad Nafees conceived and designed questionnaires for field survey. Muhammad Nafees and Muhammad Khurshid conducted field survey for data collection; Wahid Ullah analyzed the data; Wahid Ullah, Takkaki Nihei, Muhammad Khurshid, and Muhammad Nafees contributed materials, analysis, and tools; Wahid Ullah, Takkaki Nihei, Muhammad Khurshid, and Muhammad Nafees wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Wahid Ullah.

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Highlights

• Rural farmers acknowledge changes in climate and consider it as a great threat to their livelihood but often fail to adapt timely and effectively due to economic and technological barriers they face.

• To reduce the negative impacts of climate change, poor rural farmers usually tend to adapt measures that are economically feasible instead of environmentally feasible measures

• Rural farmers have no access to weather- and climate-related information.

• Extension workers and farmers unions poorly operate in our study area, resulting in leaving farmers rely on their limited knowledge on how to cope with the climate change

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Ullah, W., Nafees, M., Khurshid, M. et al. Assessing farmers’ perspectives on climate change for effective farm-level adaptation measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Environ Monit Assess 191, 547 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7651-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7651-5

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